Video of Greek history in 18 minutes

Often considered as the cradle of the Western civilization, the legacy of the ancient Greeks doesn’t pertain to their conquests and imperialism, but rather entails their cultural and social achievements in the form of political institutions, philosophical pursuits, and even certain religious systems. However, the very term ‘ancient Greece’ is a rather vague one, with the vast scope encompassing the mysterious Bronze Age Mycenaeans, the enigmatic ‘Dark Ages’, the Greek Archaic Age – that gave rise to the urban poleis, the Classical Age – the golden epoch of Athens and Sparta, the Hellenistic period – brought on by the conquests of Alexander the Great, the Latinized Roman interlude, and finally the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire of late antiquity that once again reverted to its Greek language (and gave birth to the Cyrillic script).